


Gods Of War Arise

by Eurasian_Lynx



Series: Gods Of War [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Shingeki no Kyojin levels of violence, Titan Annie Leonhart, Titan Bertolt Hoover, Titan Eren Yeager, Titan Reiner Braun, Titan Ymir (Shingeki no Kyojin), Titan Zeke (Shingeki no Kyojin), Titan Zeke Yeager
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2018-12-31 11:43:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12131748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eurasian_Lynx/pseuds/Eurasian_Lynx
Summary: Life is no fairy tale.Just because you were born for a reason, doesn't mean you have to agree with that reason. It doesn't mean you have to like it all. It doesn't even mean you have to fulfill that reason. As long as you're willing to stand up for yourself against the powers that would try to make you follow the path you were 'destined' to walk, you can live whatever life you choose.And maybe, you'll find that just because the path you walked was different from what everyone thought it would be, doesn't mean it wasn't the one you were meant to walk after all. Perhaps your true 'fate' is the one that you choose."I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." - William Ernest Henley





	1. Once Upon A Time...

The hunched figure of an aging man was trundling slowly through the cemetery by the sea. Although, if you were to ask him, he was simply ‘taking his time to enjoy the fucking breeze get out of my face’, regardless of the fact that he was moving as fast as the cane, and his back, would allow.

It was a pleasant day. Spring was soon to turn into summer, and already humidity was beginning to layer itself into the air. But for right now, the sun was shining, the tide was low, the waves were gentle, and it was a lovely day. A few scant clouds here and there were splashed on the blue of the sky that matched that waters like strokes from a paintbrush; or perhaps like tufts of dandelion seeds puffed into the air by a child’s breath.

In fact, you could hear the carefree laughter of those very children as they darted to and fro amidst the gravestones. A little boy with dark hair huffing and puffing on a dandelion like a big bad wolf, sending the seeds up to scatter in the air and drift around. Several of them came to dot the aging man’s already greying hair.

He squinted in a gaze that could be interpreted as a glare or simply that of someone with poor vision at the little boy. Said child giggled before turning and running back off in the direction he came, arms thrown out to either side like an airplane as he ran back towards his friends.

The aging man tracked the child with his eyes, before huffing irritably and swiping his free hand against his head, brushing the seeds out of his short locks. Fucking kids had no respect for such a solemn place as this. No respect for the dead.

(Except, if one were to see the souls of the dead who lingered here, you would find them smiling and puffing dandelion seeds right back at the children in gentle breezes. The children were laughing as their playthings danced around them in the air that was the breath of those departed from the living. The souls were so thrilled to be surrounded by such joy and innocence. The aging man knew this and secretly loved the excitable children for the happiness they brought to the troubled dead.

Didn’t stop him from being irritable.)

He begrudgingly reached underneath the large coat he had draped over his form, tucking the cane under his arm. From beneath the sturdy fabric, he drew out a bouquet of multi-colored blooms. Carnations, forget-me-nots, roses, not an overload of flowers, but more than a dozen, each one a different color from those of its same kind.

Still watching the children, he silently passed one of the carnations to a blonde-haired little girl when she ran up to him and held out her hand without a word. He pressed the stalk into her upwards facing palm. He watched as her stoic face broke into a toothy grin, revealing a missing tooth, as she grabbed the flower. Her little fingers clamped firmly around the stalk, and she ran off without a word of thanks.

She sprinted up ahead of him, running up to a relatively unmarked grave. It was one of the ones closest to the seaside, positioned on a slight upwards tilt of the land that would allow one to see both the cemetery and the ocean waves with ease when seated next to it. She crouched down next to the stone, crossing her arms over her knees. She fixed the grave with an incredibly serious look, brow furrowing as she concentrated.

Her tongue poked out from between her lips. With probably far more seriousness than the situation warranted, she finally seemed to decide on the best place to put her flower. She tilted the bloom so that the petals were resting against the grave face, the stalk leaning against the headstone so that the flower was propped mostly upright.

It fell over at first, but after another try and a little adjustment, the little girl got the carnation to mostly stand up against the headstone. She frowned at it for another moment, as if daring it to fall over. When it didn’t, she popped back up onto her feet, grin overtaking her face once more.

The little, dark-haired boy from earlier ran up to her, puffing on another dandelion. He held several more of the little plants in his hand, and gave one to the little girl. She took it with a happy, unintelligible chirp, whatever words she may have said too far away to be made out.

She puffed on her own seeds, huffing a little when they didn’t all come off at once. Her friend seemed to laugh at her, puffing on it for her to help her out. It was a stubborn one, several of the seeds still clinging for life. The little girl began to wander off towards the largest of the several trees in the area, where the branches provided the best shade and the dandelions grew as she focused on the task at hand.

The little boy had already discarded the stalk he had been puffing on when he first ran up to the girl, all seeds detached. He began running towards the older man, several puffy, white flowers still clutched in his little fist.

The older man frowned down at him, simply cocking a brow as the little boy came to a halt in front of him. The little kid took one of his flowers into his free hand, holding it up for the old man with a grin. The older man tilted his head a little bit, but accepted the flower when the boy began to bounce on the balls of his feet. Such an impatient little brat.

Like his friend, he ran off again without a word, running to the large tree his friend was under, who had since been distracted by the book her older brother was reading and was leaning over his lap rather obtrusively. The older, blond-haired boy (teen really) had simply lifted one of his arms so that way he could support her back as she did this.

The aging man watched the children for a moment more, watching as two more little boys came running by the trio under the tree, both being pursued by a girl smaller than both of them. She was clearly enraged, snapping irritatedly at them with a voice far louder than most children were capable of. He was still too far away to hear the words clearly.

Child-watching over, he used his free hand to pry his cane from underneath his arm, gratefully leaning into the support as he continued walking. The salty smell of the ocean mingled with the somewhat potent odor of flowers in his grasp, mingling to create a new, but just as strong, scent. He wasn’t sure if he liked it or not, all he knew was that it made him want to sneeze.

He kept trundling down the cobblestone path, finding something soothing in the repetitious nature of the ocean’s waves and the steady ‘pick, pick’ of his cane on the stone. The cries of the seagulls and laughter of the children added a feeling of life to such a dead place. It was a lovely day, truly.

He finally came to his destination, coming to stand next to the grave the little girl had left the carnation at. He stood still, the early afternoon sun warming him and light breeze tousling his short hair as he looked down at the rather unassuming headstone. The carnation had fallen over.

He reached down to right it before continuing on down the path.

The elder man wandered around the cemetery for a time, following forks in the cobblestone path and meandering across the soft grass between the graves. Sometimes, he would pass by a gravesite without a second look. Other times, he would pause, looking down at the headstone with a curious tilt to his head, before continuing onwards. And sometimes, he would deposit one of the many flowers he carried with him, leaving little dots of color in the graveyard filled with grey stone.

He never said a word.

There seemed to be no real pattern to his actions, before he slowly began to head back to the seaside once more. He had one flower left, a dark-red carnation, a burgundy so dark it almost looked brown. He thought it was absolutely lovely.

The steady ‘pick, pick’ of his cane was silenced once more as he paused by the unassuming grave once more. The flower had fallen over again. The man watched the grave for a moment, before wordlessly tucking his cane beneath his arm and leaning down to right the flower again. But this time, he propped up the yellow carnation with his own, leaving two flowers on the grave; supported by the headstone and each other.

The corner of his lips quirked upwards for a moment as he looked at the bloom the little girl had wanted to put on the grave. Yellow, of all colors. He doubted she knew it tended to symbolize rejection and disappointment with carnations. In fact, he was certain she hadn’t. He knew the little girl liked yellows and simply wanted a flower in her favorite color to leave as a gift. That was why he had given it to her after all.

Perhaps he’d give her a book on the language of flowers one day. It would be an amusing sight to see her realize the kinds of messages she’d been leaving all this time.

He doubted any of the souls here minded. They were probably very happy she wanted to share her favorite things with them, including her favorite colors. It was just a color to her, and one she liked a lot. To give another something she liked so much was no doubt a very special gift to the soldiers who had been through so much.

(He had seen her leaving dandelions at the graves before when they were bright yellow and in full bloom. He also doubted she knew that they meant healing and the overcoming of obstacles, symbolizing the rising sun. She just liked them because they were bright and yellow. She could find a lot of them around too, since they grew so easily, so it meant she could give them to lots of people.)

Still squatting, the man draped his arms over his knees for a moment, seeming to consider something. In the next moment, he had laid his cane upon the ground, tucking the dandelion he had been gifted beneath it so it would not blow away, and drawing a wicker basket from beneath his arm. It really was impressive that he’d been carrying it around all this time.

He set the basket down next to the cane, lifting one of the lids to draw out a thin blanket which soon found itself spread next to the grave. He gave a sigh of relief as he settled down on the cloth, taking pressure off his aching feet. After a moment’s deliberation, he slipped his shoes off, leaving his feet in just socks as splayed his legs out and setting his shoes to the side.

He leaned back onto his hands, taking a moment to simply let his head fall back and eyes fall shut. The sun was warm, and his face was to the ocean’s breeze. It felt nice, just sitting here and enjoying the warmth and gentle caresses of the wind. But the breeze suddenly kicked up just a tad before dying back down again. It was almost like the wind itself was giving him an impatient poke.

He scowled, sitting back up and reaching for the basket again.

“Alright, alright, contain yourself, Shitty Glasses.”

The breeze seemed to stutter, like it was giggling. A shriek of laughter came from the children over by the tree. The man fixed the unassuming grave with a pointed look.

“Don’t you go corrupting them now, I already had to deal with _you_ once, I don’t need them causing problems too.”

The breeze seemed to laugh once more.

But the wind soon quieted as he pulled a thick tome from the basket’s depths. He could practically see the woman sitting atop her headstone, legs crossed at the ankles and hands gripping the top of her gravestone. She would be looking down at him with bare eyes twinkling in excitement, goggles atop her messy hair. Or perhaps she _was_ sitting there, and he just couldn’t see her, garbed in a freshly-pressed uniform.

As long as she didn’t knock over her flowers. He wasn’t fixing them again.

(A lie.)

But she refrained from laughing at him anymore, instead simply waiting as he opened the large book, flicking through the pages as he skimmed as if looking for something. The little blonde-haired girl seemed to have taken notice of the older man’s actions, and her feet were tapping against the ground as she ran up towards him.

He pulled a sandwich and water container from within the basket, grabbing another for himself. He set the food and drink down for the little girl, who happily kicked her shoes off and situated herself on the blanket. One pair of crossed legs and opened sandwich later and blue eyes were watching the old man with excitement.

The woman sitting on her gravestone pouted.

_No sandwich for me, Levi? I’m hurt._

The older man growled under his breath, eyes flicking to the headstone.

“You got a damn flower now shut up or I’m not reading to you.”

The woman just laughed. The little girl stifled a giggle with her hand.

The aging man’s grey eyes flicked to the little girl, cocking his brow.

“Now, I’m assuming you want a story.”

Her eyes lit up, answering even though it hadn’t been a question.

“Yes, please!”

He wrinkled his nose at the way she spoke through a mouthful of sandwich, but she didn’t seem to take any notice. He carried on speaking anyways.

“I’ve only got one story today.”

She just smiled and took another bite, as if to say she didn’t care.

A wry smile quirked his lips.

“It’s a bit of a long one, you know.”

_Ah, Levi, those are the best kind!_

The little girl just nodded excitedly, and he wouldn’t be surprised at all if she was actually agreeing with the woman on her gravestone instead of just nodding in excited acknowledgement at his words. Either way, he simply shrugged, peeling the wrapper back from his own food to take a nibble of the corner.

“Well then, I guess if you’re ready, we better start as soon as possible then. Long stories need a long time to tell, don’t want to be wasting any time now, do we?”

The little girl just settled herself in, partially-eaten sandwich now seemingly abandoned on the blanket before her and water in hand.

He smiled, just a little. So little it was hardly there.

But it was there.

He turned back to the book, flipping to one of the first pages.

“Now then, this story began many, many years ago. Before the end of the Titan wars and before humanity’s freedom, but rest assured, there’s no sad endings to be had here. For you see, many hundreds of years ago, there was once the Goddess War who ravaged the lands with her armies. People would come from far and wide to give her patronage and ask her to strike down their enemies in turn, which she did willingly. She had many children, and each of them had armies of their own, but not all of her children were very happy to be used for the sole purpose of killing by greedy humans who only wanted them for their own gain.

Some of them stayed quiet about the fact that they weren’t happy, because they didn’t want to upset their mother. She was the Goddess War, after all, and it would be very unwise to anger her. But others were a bit more vocal about their displeasure, a bit more brave, and decided to take action. And so, one day…”

~~~

The earth trembled beneath the drums of war.

Somewhere in the woods, a flock of crows took to the eventide skies. They were shrieking with alarm. Their croaking cries were raucous and loud, and their wing beats just as chaotic and disorganized as their screams. Suddenly, the vast majority of the flock was no more. A massive figure hurtled through their midst, killing many on impact as it ran. Those who were spared were damaged due to the wind gust it generated in its haste.

The few birds that remained scrambled to pull themselves back together. Only for them to be disturbed and slain by another figure that came crashing straight through. They too were crushed by the figure’s haste, until only one bird remained alive. The others were splatters of blood and feather on the ground, crushed beneath the drums of war. Splatters of war paint upon the figures that came tearing through.

The final bird quickly found refuge in the high branches of a tree, huddling up to the trunk and watching the ongoings with terrified eyes. If it had been human, it would have cried. Instead, it settled for frightened shivers and the press of bark on feather as it tried to hide.

The first figure to come through stumbled, knees slamming into the ground as it tripped over the soil in its haste. A high-pitched shriek of terror came from somewhere about its chest. The giant raised one, bony hand to cradle its shadowed bosom. The other hand scrabbled in the ground for purchase. Digging its fingers in, the being launched itself from its knees back to its feet with a mighty forward lurch. Steam plumed from the scrapes the fall had incurred. Yet, those plumes were rapidly dissipating as the figure kept up a suicidal pace.

A mess of blonde hair obfuscated the eyes, having been thrown over the face with the stumble. And yet, glimmers of blue could be seen from behind the mass of hair as they flicked about, looking for an opening. One arm pumped at the figures side, the other still cradling its chest. Except, now that it was upright and the forefront of its body was no longer cast in shadow, one could see the second, smaller figure that was clinging to the larger one. Less than half the size, arms thrown about the larger figure’s neck and legs about its waist. It was clinging for dear life as the larger one ran.

A roar sounded behind the duo. Somewhere in the distance another flock of birds took to the skies.

The first giant, the one that carried the smaller one to its chest, turned to catch a look of its pursuer. The blood of crows was streaked across all their faces and arms like the spoils of war.

The two larger giants that were running looked fairly similar. Massive beings with mops of blonde hair on their heads. Feminine build. But the first seemed to have an incomplete patchwork of skin, exposing the red of its powerful muscles while the second was wholly enshrouded by tan flesh.

The skinned one gave another roar, a bellowing shriek that pierced the ears. The smallest of the now three figures gave another muffled cry, clinging tighter to the one with a patchwork of skin that carried it.

The patchwork figure made a soft hissing noise, almost like a hush, before turning to face in front of itself once more. It couldn’t afford another fall lest the pursuer catch up. There was no room to be watching anything other than the ground and the path before it.

The patchwork one ran with a single-minded determination, arm pumping furiously at its side as it cradled the smaller figure against its bosom. The blue eyes peeking from beneath blonde hair were like tempered steel. Legs slammed against the earth, again and again. Feet crushed soil and stone and trees beneath their speed and strength. The wind whipped about the giant like a hurricane.

The skinned one ran with more wild abandon, spittle flying from its maw as it shrieked and roared. It was chasing after the two before it with arms outstretched and fingers curled like claws, which were, ironically, tipped with claws in turn.

The earth was shaking beneath the rapid, heavy weights of both their feet as they ran.

The earth trembled beneath the drums of war.

The setting sun cast a grizzly glow on the scene, the blood-splattered giants racing in the dying light. The patchwork one had more reason to worry about the fading of the light than the skinned, and it knew it.

Without the sun, the pursuer, the angry, howling banshee that chased after the two who ran would be weakened. But, it would still be able to chase them down.

Without the sun, the two who ran would have nothing to give them strength.

They were not like their pursuer.

Not yet.

So they ran.

The chase brought the trio leaping over rivers. It brought their feet down heavy upon herds of wild beasts and brought them crashing through forests with little regard for the plant life and ecosystem. There was nothing but a trail of destruction in their wake.

The sun was bleeding the horizon red.

The first of the creatures, the one of patchwork skin, could feel its muscles growing tired as the light began to die. The smaller one that clung to its chest knew this and gave another muffled cry. The larger of the two made not a sound, only curling its fingers tighter in that dark hair, holding more firmly to its precious cargo. It didn’t slow down, didn’t give its chaser an inch.

It wouldn’t give up until it was physically incapable of carrying on any further.

The skinned giant shrieked like a banshee as it chased them, occasionally dropping to all fours to run after them when it stumbled over an obstacle. Its run was erratic, so focused was it on chasing the duo down. Yet, even as the duo had the advantage of an awareness of their surroundings, the hunter had rage bubbling in its veins, and would not let them escape it so easily.

The far edges of the sky were tinting pink and purple.

The first of the beings stumbled for a moment, balance beginning to fail as energy began to flee its system, legs trembling. But it did not fall, it kept running.

The second of the figures was closer now, not showing any weakness with the setting of the sun. It gave a howling roar.

The smallest of the three giants didn’t even have it within it to cry out, only digging its clawed hands into the flesh of the shoulders it clung to. Small puffs of steam arose from where the sharp points broke into the meat. The one who carried it voiced no complaints.

The edges of the sky were becoming hued with dark blues and the lavender shades began to become royal in darkness and depth to their color. The sun could no longer be seen on the horizon.

The patchwork giant stumbled again, and this time, its free hand scraped the ground as it pitched forwards. But it did not fall to its knees, and forced itself back up again with little to no hesitation.

Eyes like emerald pools peered over the shoulder of the stumbling giant, seeming to glimmer with frightened tears. They watched as their chaser kept closing the distance, close enough now for the smallest of the giants to see the strands of spittle that were flung from those shrieking jaws as it bellowed its rage. Close enough to see the cracked and yellowed glint of the claws the tipped those ancient fingers, so stained with the blood of war.

The creature shrieked again, and the small one buried its mop of brown hair back into the crook of its guardian’s neck.

The guardian who couldn’t go on any longer.

The first of the massive beings stumbled once more, but this time it couldn’t pick itself back up. Its free hand was thrown forwards in an attempt to catch itself, but to no avail. Instead, it crashed straight into the soil below. The only action it was capable of taking was to turn itself in the air so that it landed on its side, sparing its charge from the brunt of the blow.

Said charge gave a pitiful cry, weak and tired as the energy afforded it by the sunlight failed with every passing moment. The patchwork giant held tightly to the smaller one, one arm curled around it. Its free hand dug into the soil for traction, dragging trails through the dirt as it skidded with its fall.

The crashing of the feet of the pursuer grew louder, and within seconds, it was upon the two. The skinned one seemed to waste no time as it hurled itself at them, pouncing like a large feline with claws out and teeth bared. Drool flecked from its jowls as its teeth bit furiously into the soft flesh of the other giant’s chest, teeth scraping against the sternum.

Scraping against where the smaller giant had been before.

As the hunter had leapt upon them, the larger of the duo had flung, with the last of its energy, the smallest to the side, sending the lanky creature that seemed to be all limbs flying with a startled cry. The hunter didn’t seem to care at all, simply digging its maw into the flesh of the giant beneath it. The large, patchwork being gave a pained scream as teeth dug into its flesh, trembling limbs pushing back at the beast atop it. The lack of sunlight left it so weakened that the one atop it simply ripped a chunk of flesh from its breast, before going back for more. The patchwork one couldn’t seem to do a thing, even as it struggled vainly to fight back.

Instead, that task fell to the smallest.

While the two larger, female-looking figures ‘battled’ it out on the ground, the smallest, less than half of either the others size, slowly stumbled to its feet.

It was all limbs, lean and lanky, not a trace of pudge or fat on its form. It hadn’t been given anything to nourish it yet in all its life, save for the light of the sun. Of course it was a thin, wretched beast. The mop of brown hair atop its crown was long, tumbling to its shoulder blades and matted with dirt and knots.

It had little energy, so deprived was it of the sun, but its heart was _burning._ Tears welled up in its emerald eyes.

_Big Sister tried to protect you, and look what that made Mother do._

But Big Sister wasn’t dead yet, Mother was not attempting to attack her nape. For now, she seemed to want her daughter to pay with blood and pain instead of death.

As long as she wasn’t dead, Littlest Brother had a chance.

He stumbled off away from them, away from the cries of war. His ‘little’ body half fell and half ran as he navigated the landscape as best as he could. His hands reached out blindly, his body fueled only by the desperate need burning in his breast. The need to find help.

He gave a piteous cry in the early night, stumbling blindly into a tree and finding himself on the ground once more. He cried out, curling in on himself on the dirt and stone that had broken his fall, body wracked with shivers of cold. He gave another cry into his knees as he trembled there.

He cried out for help. He cried out because he was cold. He cried out because he was sad. He cried out because he hurt. He cried out for someone to help Big Sister.

Mother gave a howl of rage somewhere behind him.

Footsteps started up, two sets of them.

The earth began to tremble once more under the drums of war.

Littlest Brother stumbled back to his feet, pushing forwards.

They were so close, so close to freedom, he couldn’t give up now.

The drums neither faded nor grew louder, Mother and Big Sister neither coming towards him nor away. Still, he kept pushing forwards.

His dark hair fell into his eyes, and he couldn’t see a thing.

Still he kept going.

Blinded as he was, it was little surprise, truth be told, when he smacked face first into a massive sheet of rock. He cried out in pain as he fell back onto his buttocks, clutching at his now steaming nose with tear-filled eyes. He shook some of the dark locks from his visage, clawed hands still clutching his face as he looked up through his glimmering orbs. He got a good look at what he had run into.

It was massive, the rock wall towering to heights he had only visited a scant few times. Big Brother was too hot to ride most of the time.

It seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon, and the small giant’s eyes filled with tears once more as he hurled himself back to his trembling legs and feet. The energy given to him by his heart was beginning to fade. He launched himself at the wall, clenching one of his weak hands into a fist and pounding the side of it against the wall for all he was worth. He shrieked as he did so.

It was a piteous, wordless cry. The sound that rang among the trees was weak and desperate, beseeching. Unintelligible to any man or woman, but saying so much to those who understood.

His energy was fading fast, and he fell to his knees. He slammed the side of his fist against the rock once more, eyes falling half-lidded.

_’Sanctuary! Please, give us Sanctuary!’_

His head hit the ground as his body fell sideways, his call ringing out into the night.

He gave one last weak attempt to hit the stone with his fist, his flesh barely making a sound as it tapped the wall.

His eyes rolled back and his mind faded into unconscious darkness.

In the distance, the sounds of Mother and Big Sister’s feet came to a halt.

Silence, like the world was waiting to see if anyone would answer the smallest giant’s plea.

A trio of howling shrieks, followed by an answering one from the skinned giant.

The roars escalated to a deafening symphony, before seeming to reach the end of the measure all at once after no more than a heartbeat.

It fell silent once more.

A distant thud sounded as Big Sister’s body connected with the ground, steam pluming off of her sluggishly as her grievous wounds began to slowly regenerate. Her eyes rolled back as she was left a shell empty of strength. Her soft breaths the only sign she was still alive.

And the drums of war were silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~Cheesy summary is cheesy.~~
> 
> So, as just about anyone can figure out when looking at my profile, I don't have the greatest track record with regular updates. Doesn't mean I won't be giving it my damnedest to keep writing for this story though, so here's to hoping that goes well. This has been your forewarning.
> 
> Tags will be updated as the story progresses undoubtedly.
> 
> I suppose this could be considered mildly edited? I mean I went through and added a few extra sentences here and there, cut up a lot of the larger chunks of writing into smaller sentences, changed a few bits of wording here and there. But overall I'm not very experienced at editing my own work, so it's mostly the same as it was when I first typed it out.
> 
> But yeah, this is a thing now.
> 
> Cool.
> 
> [The song (cover of a song) the series title is from.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6RP6FTXaPk) The story plot originates from the repeated verse that the title name came from, feel free to make of that what you will. :p (Verse involving title starts at about [0:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6RP6FTXaPk&t=55). Lyrics can be found [here](http://www.metrolyrics.com/gods-of-war-arise-lyrics-amon-amarth.html).)
> 
> I was also 100% listening to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-VPrpo52hI) when Littlest Brother was pounding on the wall. Just sharing. Specifically: [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-VPrpo52hI&t=155). Boy I sure do love pulling lines from songs for dialogue.


	2. Well Hello There...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guess what I got fuckers
> 
> Reading

Unsurprisingly to anyone involved, it was Hange who met them first.

What was surprising, or rather, _would_ be, was that she didn’t say anything.

Or, she smirked, perhaps it just meant she wasn't quite as predictable as everyone seemed to think.

~~~

_Fuck._

_Fuck, fuck, fuck._

_Fuck fuck fuckity fuck and all things in-between._

_It truly was a wonder how versatile that one single word was. And one Hange Zoe was learning all the different variations and forms in which it could be used._

_The fingers of her left hand had long since grown cracked, the nails splintering and flaking off. On some of her fingers, the nails had been ripped up from the nail bed completely, leaving nothing but exposed flesh that was covered in sticky, clotted blood. On others, shards of the nail still remained. On her thumb, those shards had been twisted by a bad impact on a tree branch so that they dug into her flesh with every movement, piercing her skin like small daggers. If she managed to twist her fingers just right, blood would even burble up over the impaled splinter of nail, slowly frothing into a disgusting pink as it was soaked by the misty rain._

_The black of long-since dried blood clung to her other nails, the viscous substance too adhered to her flesh to be driven off by the light mist. Her clothing was eternally damp. Water was not running off of her like in a downpour, but she was far from dry. It was cold and pervasive. Like a moor in the early morning of spring or late fall, before the sun had yet to rise and everything was still. At least with a downpour, there was so much of it pouring down so fast that one became numbed to it. One could almost begin to ignore the piercing cold of the rain. This was too subtle of a constant to be forgotten, leaving her shivering with her bones feeling as if they were being turned to cold metal. It was no sharp, piercing cold like ice. Only a dull, but ever-present one like a pipe kept in the shadows. It wouldn't leave, and her body could not acclimate, leaving her even more miserable than she already was. Even still, her flesh was beginning to chill, and, in time, would grow numb too. But she could feel every step of the process._

_The odor of mildew was clinging to the fabric that surrounded her, and she couldn't be bothered to care for the scent of urine that emanated from her as well. She was alone, she was going to die, who cared if she didn't have time to stop and relieve herself properly? Her nose had long since given up sneezing at the offending odors, instead simply trembling in the chill as she knelt on a branch, one of her lines snapped and the other with little gas left._

_Her right hand was clutching at her left shoulder, and the nails of this hand seemed to be doing a fair bit better. The nails of her middle and ring finger were cracked down the middle, but that was the extent of the damage. To be fair, her left hand was the one that had gone hurtling into a tree, hence the severe damage. That was also why her shoulder now sagged at an odd angle, her arm appearing just a tad too long for her body as it hung uselessly at her side. Dislocated, and she was fairly certain with broken bones._

_Not that it mattered, a Titan's teeth would break the rest of them anyway. She was just getting a head start._

_The thought brought a wry twist of the lips, and she felt pressure in her throat. Her eyes burned, and her minuscule smirk turned to a grimace as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, tears beginning to fog her already blurry vision. One of her lenses was completely shattered, and the other was cracked. At the end of it all, the world wasn't even kind enough to let her see her own demise approaching. She let go of her shoulder, instead using her good hand to push up her more or less useless goggles. She hid her eyes against the fabric of her jacket as she lay her arm across her face._

_A broken sob quietly emanated from her throat, and her cheeks were warmed by the hot tracks of tears that bubbled over. Her tongue was graced with the salty flavor of the small rivulets of snot that ran down her face. Levi would probably be sick from how disgusting she was right now, but the thought only brought another sob from her bitten-red lips. Her legs trembled with exhaustion and despair, and she allowed herself to finally sit down on the branch. She had given up crouching as if waiting for an opening to escape that would never come._

_There were no titans around anyway, and she sullenly tucked herself into a small nook made where the thick branch connected to the tree trunk. Legs folded up to her chest, good arm thrown across her knees, bad arm hanging uselessly, and with her head buried behind her knees, she allowed herself to have one last cry before she accepted her fate. She was allowed to be selfish, allowed to cry about how unfair the situation was. How unfair it was that she die before learning the truth about the titans. How unfair it was that she die cold, alone, and afraid. There was no one around to judge her, and it wasn't going to matter soon anyways. So she let herself cry and scream, pounding the bark of the branch with her feet, slamming her good fist against the trunk until it too was raw and bloodied as her other hand. Crying for no one but herself, because she didn't want to die._

_When she had cried herself raw, she wiped her face with the damp cloth of her cloak, momentarily glad for the pervasive dampness as it allowed her to try to wipe her face clean and actually be mostly successful. Even the dried crust of her tears came off. Small blessings._

_She looked over the edge of the branch with a sigh. She didn't want to just jump to her death, even though she didn't doubt that from this high up it would be less painful than death by titan. She knew no one was coming back for her, not after this long. And there was no point in trying to continue to run, there was no way she'd make it back. Her head thunked dully against the tree trunk as she leaned back, closing her eyes with an accepting sigh. She wasn't sure why she kept waiting, why she kept putting it off, but she did._

_She just didn't have the guts to do it herself. So she kept waiting for a titan to come along and do it for her._

_She wasn't thinking anymore as she sat there, eyes closed, a lone specter in the mist. Her mind was as numb as her flesh, empty, dull. Like the fog had slipped through her ears to settle inside her skull, layering itself over her neurons until they simply stopped. She stopped being aware of the pain in her body, stopped being aware of the cold. She was terribly thirsty, but couldn't feel it. She couldn't really feel anything. Even if she couldn't do the deed herself, she had accepted that it was the only possible outcome at this point. So she stopped bothering to pay attention to the complaints of her body._

_The only thing she was really aware of was the cool flush of air through her nose, in and out, as she breathed. It was rhythmic, and as the years passed, she would later ponder whether or not that had lulled her into sleep, or if she had simply been so apathetic to the world that she hadn't heard him coming. Hadn't felt the vibrations of the tree as he carefully clawed his way up to meet the injured human who seemed trapped in the canopy, to see if she needed help._

_But she couldn't miss the hot wash of air that spilled over her form. Surprisingly, it didn't have much of a scent to it all, no more so than the rest of the world around her did. It ruffled her hair and clothing, and was actually relieving in the way it chased away the cold. Which... wasn't as severe as it had been before._

_To her fogged mind, that was what struck her the most odd. She wondered if perhaps the sun had come out, and slowly cracked open her eyes, lines creasing her forehead in confusion._

_She came face to face with the visage of a ghastly beast, only feet away from her as it peered at her limp form._

_She wasn't thinking, didn't have the capability left to. Her mind barely even processed that she was looking at a titan before she processed something that seemed far more important._

_"You have beautiful eyes."_

_It was true. The eyes of the beast were like ocean emeralds. Like gemstones forged from the waves that were filled with algae and coral life, exquisite in their impossibility._

_The gaunt maw before her suddenly pulled back a little, as if in shock. It blinked down at her. She blinked back. Before her very eyes, the creature suddenly seemed to turn just that little bit pinker, a flush crawling across its sharp cheeks and nose, spreading a little down its neck to its chest as it cast its gaze from side to side, even turning to look over its shoulder, before looking back at her. The massive beast before her had what she could best equate to a look of embarrassed pleasure, as if to say, 'who, me?'_

_The smallest hint of a genuine smile bloomed against her lips._

_"Yeah, you really do."_

_The beast ducked its head a little, which was rather humorous as it was currently suspended in a position that didn't leave it much room to do so, clinging to the tree trunk. It seemed pleased with the compliment._

_She smiled, her brain too fuzzy to really comprehend the situation. She had made a titan blush._

_A massive titan, the likes of which she had never seen. With a lipless maw and serrated rows of teeth. With elven ears and a muscular, perfectly proportional body. A titan that could climb trees. A titan that understood her words. A titan that had climbed up to look at her, without showing any sign of aggression or a desire to eat her._

_But more importantly, she'd made it blush. That was all that really registered to her as important._

_She groaned a little as she shifted, making to crawl forwards on her knees closer to the beast. Her smile picked up a little more, the familiar pattern of teasing coming back to her. She teased people all the time. It was familiar._

_"Come now, don't hide like that, then how can I see your pretty eyes?"_

_The blush had spread to those tapered ears, and the poor beast seemed to be going redder by the second. It tried to bury its face against its shoulder. The maneuver was relatively successful, as it had its arm raised above it to sink into the tree bark, leaving it plenty of room to hide its flushed expression._

_She laughed, before groaning again because laughing hurt._

_That got another reaction out of the curious beast that had clambered up to meet her. The titan peeked out a little from its shoulder, brow creasing as it looked at her from the corner of its eye, gaze roaming over her form as if seeing the extent of the damage for the first time._

_The woman wasn't looking, having leaned back onto her heels to slow her breathing. Hyperventilating in pain would just make it worse._

_Her eyes were shut, face relaxed. In and out, in and out. Slow, a soft rise and fall no greater than that of slumber. Light, not too deep. Careful, calculated breaths to stave off the pain. She was more sensitive to it after having been ignoring it for who knew how long as she drifted._

_A quiet croon roused her from her meditative focus. An eye softly creaked open, and oh, there was a drying smear of blood that tried to hold it shut. She absent-mindedly ran the sleeve of her good hand over the eye, both wetting the blood so she could move easier and wiping some of it away._

_The titan had leaned back in to be closer to her. The flush had not left its visage, but was now a soft, gentle pink. A drop of water fell from one of the locks of hair that hung over its face. It pinged off the woman's nose, and she blinked as she started in surprise. Still blinking, she looked up to the giant with a silent tilt of her head, curious and confused._

_The giant crooned again, and she watched how those serrated teeth parted to let the deep noise lilt out like water, a soft stream of sound from the throat. Those algae-ocean eyes looked into hers, before glancing to her dislocated shoulder, down to her battered hand, then looking back at her and crooning again._

_The woman's smile became just that little bit wider, showing a hint of teeth._

_"You're a sweetheart, but you don't have to worry about me. I'm sure I'll taste fine even like this."_

_Her smile took on a tinge some would call insanity, she called it a last ditch attempt to find some sort of humor in her last moments. A last ditch effort to stave off the crippling fear and desperation to survive so that she could meet her end with some vestige of dignity._

_"Hell, I might even taste all the better for it. A taste of what's inside before you bite down."_

_Before she could get any more words out, the titan made a sharp noise. Quiet, all things considered, but high and sharp. Piercing. Like a protest._

_The woman winced, looking back up at the titan. It looked almost... angry. Its ears were lowered, brow furrowed, and despite lacking lips, the flesh around its mouth was turned downwards in displeasure._

_She gave a weak smile._

_"Don't like your food all beat up, huh?"_

_If anything, the glower got worse. This time, the giant gave a low rumble, like a soft growl._

_She could only wonder what she'd done wrong. But she didn't have enough presence of mind to realize that perhaps she ought to stop speaking in the meantime._

_"What, I'm not good enough to eat?"_

_Leave it to Hange to be the one human not even a titan wants anything to do with. She would have laughed if it wouldn't have hurt so much._

_But rather than laughing, the titan just looked even angrier. Offended, even. It growled again, louder this time. It moved its face closer to hers, until she could reach out and lay her hand on that crooked nose if she wanted. The heat seemed to be rolling off the beast in waves, whether from anger or not was indecipherable._

_As the woman promptly was currently very much so out of it, she immediately dropped her teasing, and shuffled forward on her knees to do just that, pressing her body against the heated skin without a second thought. Her eyes fluttered closed, and a distant part of her registered that she her wounds were probably infected. She was feeling rather delirious and dizzy. Probably why she was acting so fearless and ridiculous, even by her standards._

_"Mmm... warm..."_

_She vaguely registered that the flesh she was laying upon had tensed up, the beast flinching softly in surprise as she shuffled closer for warmth. It felt wonderful on her injured flesh, soothing the pain in her body. She felt completely relaxed, allowing herself to transfer most of her weight onto the beast's face, leaning against it. The giant didn't move as she rested._

_Or, it seemed she was just too delirious to notice before she felt the weight of massive fingers pressing softly, tenderly against her back. The fingers holding her against the titan's face as the creature began to move. She felt her knees leave the bark, and her body slipped a little before she found herself resting on the edge of the beast's hand, the appendage curled beneath her and holding her up. She ignored the pained twinges that came with every movement. Delirious humming beginning to sound as she pulled her lips into her mouth to nibble on. The extreme stress of the situation, combined with its ridiculousness and the fever she didn't know she had was leaving her completely unable to care._

_But that seemed to work out for the giant as it gently pushed her forwards with a nudge from its nose, until she was safely flopped over in its palm. Suddenly, the two of them were moving, and the ill and injured woman gave a loopy 'wheeee!' as the titan pulled back from the branch, slowly beginning to climb down from the tree. It leapt the last distance down, Hange and the earth shuddering as its heavy feet collided with the soil. The trees shivered, leaves dropping free and fluttering about to fall towards the ground below. One of them landed on the woman's forehead, and she pursed her lips to blow at it like a child, trying to make it fly._

_She tried to roll over, before sharp agony in her shoulder caused her to flinch with a sharp intake of breath, her military experience only just lending her the self-control not to shout._

_The delirium was momentarily broken, and she pushed herself as upright as she could, the giant having taken no notice of her struggles. It was beginning to walk out from the trees, although the woman was paying no attention to it as it carried her off to parts unknown._

_Instead, she braced her hand against the dislocated limb, bit down on her lip, and gave a sharp push to pop the joint back into place. A small trickle of blood wound its way down her chin where her teeth pierced the flesh of her lip. Her eyes were screwed shut, and she was breathing heavily through her nose. The giant was still too focused on its walk to take notice._

_It **burned.** But at least she could move it now, could use it, as damaged as the hand attached to it was. It still hurt like hell to use, but it was usable._

_She peered about herself, taking advantage of the momentary clear-headedness to ponder what exactly was going on._

_Be injured on a mission?_

_Done that before._

_Encounter a titan?_

_Also done that before._

_Talk to a titan?_

_Admittedly done that as well. Levi thought she was crazy but honestly, people talked to cats and dogs all the time. At least titans looked relatively human._

_Had a titan not only refuse to eat her, but apparently understand everything she was saying and offer a free ride to goddess's know where?_

_That was certainly a new one. But hell if she wasn't a scientist, and hell if being a scientist didn't mean that she leapt for every new opportunity and experience._

_So she rolled onto her hands and knees, shuffling towards the giant's thumb so that way she had something to brace herself against as she stood up to the best of her ability. The beast glanced down at her, but didn't turn it's head and continued on it's trek._

_Everything was still covered in fog, and the titan only seemed to be making it worse with the puffs of steam curling from its maw. Granted, the air was already so opaque that she could barely even see the steam, but she was also quite visually impaired. She wasn't the best judge of the situation._

_Without functioning lenses, she couldn't really tell where they were, or where the beast was taking her. Everything was grey and muted greens and browns, the fog obscuring what her blurry vision didn't already block. The only thing she could really gather was that there were no other titans around, which she supposed was fair. Her free ride probably covered up most of her smell, never mind the scent-blocking powers of the mist. That was probably why none of them had bothered her while she was trapped in the tree. Hard for anyone to pick up a scent in this fog._

_Having gathered all she could, and delirium beginning to set back in, alongside a twinge of nausea, the woman made her way back to the middle of the giant's palm, splaying herself out to absorb as much heat as possible. There was no point in panicking in this situation, it would accomplish absolutely nothing. And thinking too hard about what was going on would just drive her mad with confusion. So she closed her eyes, and didn't think at all._

_The titan's eyes lit up with amusement when the sound of obnoxious snoring met its ears._

_~~~_

_She was woken up by the sound of a loud collision._

_Leaping awake, she was in even more pain than when she had gone to sleep, if such a thing were possible. It was dark out, even if only just, and the air didn't seem as laden with fog as it had before. Blinking against the encroaching darkness, the only thing she could really identify was the vague outline of the titan, which still hadn't eaten her, shockingly enough. She decided not to think on the way the eyes glowed in the dark, and instead followed the distant outline of its arm, trying to see what it had done._

_It appeared to have punched something, some large rock formation, perhaps? She shuffled closer to the edge of the beast's hand, decidedly ignoring the immense pain in her body. She didn't make it, because suddenly, the world was moving, and fast. She splayed back out against the hand, clinging to the rough flesh as she was lowered to the ground. It took her a moment to realize the ride was over, and she mutely shuffled to the edge of the beast's hand and gingerly lowered herself to the ground._

_Oh walls, that hurt. She'd had to jump a little to make it the last foot down, and the shock up her legs was decidedly painful. She turned to look behind her at whatever the giant had set her down next to as said beast stood back up._

_Even with the dim light, and her lack of lenses, she would never **not** recognize the gate that led inside the walls._

_The titan had brought her home._

_She turned, looking back up at the beast, opening her mouth to say... **something.** Question it, perhaps. Thank it. She didn't know, and she never would, because she never got the chance too._

_The thundering footsteps of an approaching titan distracted them both, and Hange saw a tall figure rapidly closing the distance between them all. She would have been afraid, if not for the continued fog that rested over her thoughts, illness obscuring her mind. The beast who had carried her home took a step back, seeming to almost withdraw from the approaching one, as if nervous._

_The newcomer didn't even spare a glance at Hange as it approached the other titan. The newcomer was just a little taller than the one who had carried her home. She couldn't get a good look at the new one in the darkness, the only way she could even tell what her savior looked like was because she had seen it in the daytime, the slight glint of its teeth in the moonlight enough for her to picture where it was. The newcomer was indecipherable. She saw said titan wrap its hand around the others wrist, and immediately begin trying to pull it away, back off into the darkness. It spared her a glance for the first time. For a moment, she looked back into glowing, steel-blue eyes overflowing with emotion she couldn't see for the failures of her own sight._

_It began to tug on the other giant's arm with more urgency, gaze flicking to the wall. She wondered if it was afraid of the canons at the top, although at this time of night surely no one was manning them._

_She wouldn't realize it until after she had recovered, but the titan had no eyes for the top of the wall. It was only looking **at** the wall. As if it was afraid of the wall itself._

_Within moments, the original giant that had saved her complied with it's companions wishes, beginning to allow itself to be led away. Neither of the giants looked back as the smaller one broke into a run, trying to take itself and its companion as far away as possible by the looks of it, leaving the larger with no choice but to follow as the smaller refused to let go. They were rapidly swallowed up by the darkness, and Hange was left to stand in feverish confusion and acceptance by the gate._

_All too soon, however, the silence was interrupted by the sound of creaking metal, which brought her to turn back around to the grate, just in time for a smaller figure to collide with her chest. She gave a pained gasp, but the figure only looped its arms around her, clinging tight. She smiled, leaning her weight against the smaller figure with abandon and a loopy grin. Soldiers spilled out from the gate to swarm around her, having been brought to the gate by the titan's blow, checking to see if she had brought anyone with her._

_"Levi! Hi!"_

_The short man only gave her a tight squeeze, before she was distantly aware of his voice murmuring quietly from where he had his face pressed against her._

_"I knew you'd come back. Erwin didn't believe me."_

_She grinned, before darkness completely obscured her vision, and not from the recently set sun. She was distantly aware of a familiar voice shouting her name, and everything was quiet._

~~~

She tapped her fingertips against her lips, her left arm currently slung in a cast and a pair of glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. A smile curled at the edges of her lips as she mulled over the events that led her there, nails grazing her teeth occasionally with her taps.

Now _that_ had been the adventure of a lifetime, and she was sitting in her hospital bed, wondering if she ought to share what she had found out. Apparently, she had blabbered some about her adventures in her feverish delirium, but once that had broken and she was more clear-headed, she had gone to playing the 'I don't remember' card and hoped that they bought it. Apparently, having a fever for over a week would allow you to play that card quite successfully. They took her ramblings for the nonsense of a feverish titan-enthusiast.

There were no conclusive theories on how she made it back to the wall, and as long as she didn't say anything, they had no evidence to the contrary.

A part of her wanted to share her discoveries, but another part couldn't shake the memory of the worry she had seen in those blue eyes, as blurry as it was.

She had a surprising amount of empathy most assumed she didn't, and that made the decision rather easy, in the end. Those two giants were a marvel and a counter statement to everything they knew about titans, and she felt for humanity's plight in this bitter, endless war.

But she also felt for the giant who had been afraid its companion would be hurt if it allowed the other one to stay too close to the walls filled with deadly humans.

So she settled back against the pillows, smile widening as she continued tapping her fingers against her lips in a mixture of curiosity and excitement.

"Don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt the Sweetheart."

They couldn't hurt what they didn't know about, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~I like writing heavy imagery can you tell.~~
> 
> Hange: *embarasses a titan*
> 
> No stop
> 
> Hange: *promptly follows that up with repeated insults*
> 
> Do you have any survival instinct
> 
> LeviHan is platonic OTP
> 
> Small edit made to clarify a paragraph on October 31, 2017.


End file.
